You notice things, Doug!
I fiddled with tenses and maybe need to revert to ‘cycled'.
And, yes, ‘son’ is not from memory but for convenience!
Thanks also to other readers, Bill, Andrew, Sheila, Patrick.
Max
On Feb 3, 2016, at 8:25, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> Agree about the retroactive view, Mx: neat caught.
>
> Just not sure about 'when I cycle past’: I heard/thought ‘cycled’ before I read it.
>
> And did she really call you ‘Son’?
>
> Doug
>> On Feb 3, 2016, at 12:01 AM, Max Richards <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>
>> Reading Matter
>>
>> The town Free Library was too far.
>> From a local shop much nearer us
>> my mother read, for a shilling
>> or so a time, ‘women’s books’.
>>
>> Came the day when: Would I
>> return them when I cycle past,
>> and get some more? - How will
>> I know what you’ve read already?
>>
>> Son, you’ve noticed for months
>> my usual reading matter,
>> even looked inside some.
>> If in doubt, bring George Sava.
>>
>> She only had an afternoon hour
>> to read anything at all.
>> I watched her slippers lift
>> and settle on the sunporch stool,
>>
>> the pages turn, sunlight shift
>> slowly towards evening.
>> Almost an hour in, she’d say:
>> Have I read this already?
>>
>> Page one you’d think had told her.
>> Old George still turns up in junk shops.
>> Bland doctor’s stories for middle-brows.
>> Retired, I read my afternoons away,
>>
>> serious demanding stories, some
>> by doctors. Almost an hour in,
>> however, I pull back, often:
>> Have I read this already?
>
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